2021 Fighter of the Year: Usyk, Canelo, Taylor and Fury to battle it out for top prize
- Joe Hewlett
- 27 December 2021
Between the four fighters on our shortlist, we have two undisputed champions, a unified heavyweight king and another heavyweight who concluded a compelling rivalry.
It's no secret that Covid-19 has disrupted the sport since 2020, but the majority of boxing's biggest names have all been in action this year.
Oleksandr Usyk
We were meant to get an all-British showdown to determine the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999 this year. Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury had 'agreed in principle' to a two-fight deal for all of the marbles. It turns out in boxing unless two fighters are in the ring then you can never be too sure (shock horror).
August 14 was the date and Saudi Arabia was the location - until Deontay Wilder won a court battle to earn a rematch against Fury for the WBC title. No longer would fans witness a fight they had craved for years. Instead, Joshua met WBO mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk on September 25 in London.
As well as retaining his undefeated record, Usyk also upset the home favourite and in doing so became a two-division world champion and just the second fighter after Evander Holyfield to unify the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. The pair are expected to collide in a rematch next year with April the date in mind.
Canelo Alvarez
The Mexican fought three times in 2021 and added titles to his mantelpiece in each fight. Returning in February - following his dominant December win over Callum Smith - Canelo stopped Avni Yildirim inside three rounds to retain his WBC and WBA super middleweight straps.
His win over the experienced Turkish fighter was more of a warm-up fight ahead of his Cinco de Mayo showdown with mouthy Brit Billy Joe Saunders. The duo collided for three world titles, two of Canelo's and Saunders' WBO belt. In front of 73,126 fans at the AT&T Stadium in Texas - an all-time attendance record for an indoor boxing event held in America - Canelo inflicted the first defeat of Saunders career.
The British southpaw was unable to return off his stool following round eight after fracturing his eye socket in three different places. Canelo had now unified the 168-pound division and had one title left to capture - the IBF title.
Josh Taylor
Another undisputed champion was crowned this year - and the first Scottish fighter since Ken Buchanan in 1971. Taylor picked up from where he left off in 2019, where he won the World Boxing Super Series - by defeating Jose Ramirez in May.
In a back-and-forth contest, Taylor floored Ramirez twice on his way to earning a points victory to win the only title to elude him at 140lbs - the WBC championship. The "Tartan Tornado" is hot property right now and huge fights await him in 2022.
Terence Crawford is an option should he decide to move up to welterweight and attempt to become a two-division world champion while Teofimo Lopez has also spoken of his interest in facing Taylor - although it is less likely to happen following Lopez's defeat to George Kambosos Jr in November.
Firstly, Taylor - under Ben Davison - must overcome WBO mandatory challenger Jack Catterall in the first half of next year before eyeing up any super-fight.
Tyson Fury
The fourth and final name on our list. The "Gypsy King" fought just once this year but it was more than worth the wait as he completed his rivalry against Deontay Wilder.
Fury is a two-time winner of the Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year award, winning it with Teofimo Lopez last year for his seventh-round destruction of Wilder. Next year, he is expected to take on the WBC's mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte in the UK.
